30 April 2010

Travellers coming to South Africa probably all wonder about the hand signals people along the streets and roads use to stop minibuses. All these hand signals do indeed have a special meaning and indicate the person's next destination, or the taxi route they would like to follow.

The system is pretty complex and you need to have a very good knowledge of the area to fully understand it. Therefore the City of Johannesburg created a Taxi Hand Signals User Guide (pdf) to give an overview and to make the system somehow understandable. Well, good luck!

29 April 2010

Hostelworld is currently releasing a series of podcasts about South Africa. The latest one is about Mossel Bay - Cage Diving with Great White Sharks, a popular holiday town on South Africa's Garden Route. In the podcast,Hostelworld’s Rebecca Keenan speaks with Mike Ladley, Education Programme Director at White Shark Africa to find out about the inquisitive nature of the great white, what to expect from a trip with White Shark Africa and more.

28 April 2010

Two South African restaurants, the La Colombe (#12) in Constantia, Cape Town, and the Le Quartier Francais (#31) in Franschhoek (Cape Winelands), are among the World’s 50 Best Restaurants 2010. Congratulations!

According to FIFA the 2010 World Cup in South Africa is expected to have a spectator turnout of 95-97% - numbers also achieved in Germany in 2006. Football World's governing body is very confident that the remaining 300,000 tickets will be sold before kick off on 11 June 2010 in Johannesburg. Fifa president Sepp Blatter was quotet saying: "If we can sell so many tickets in eight days, what can stop us from selling 300 000 in the next days left."
Well, good luck!

25 April 2010

Malaria is a deadly mosquito-born disease, which takes almost one million lives per year and afflicts as many as half a billion people in 109 countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Each 30 seconds, a child dies from malaria.
Malaria plagued Europe and North America as recently as 60 years ago. Simple public health measures were crucial to eliminating the disease and helping those regions achieve growth, prosperity and stability.

23 April 2010

South African National Parks (SANParks) just announced that MATCH has released a second batch of reserved accommodation for the 2010 FIFA World Cup during the period 9 June 2010 to 3 July 2010. This time, only units at Kruger National Park’s (KNP’s) Skukuza Rest Camp have been released.

With the 2010 World Cup starting in less than two month, South Africa is more and more getting into the focus of the news trying to show the country from different perspectives.
The BBC just published "At the Edge in Soweto" (as part of their Global Perspective documentary series). The podcast is about the three Sowetans Anza, Freddy and Sibusiso and how they are coping with long-term unemployment and the daily temptations to make a fast - rather than an honest - buck.

BBC Documentaries - Global PerspectiveAt the Edge in Soweto >>duration: 23 min
Unemployment in Soweto is well above the national average for South Africa. How are young people like Anza, Freddy and Sibusiso coping with long-term job hunting and the daily temptations to make a fast - rather than an honest - buck?

The wheel is 50m in diameter and has 36 enclosed air-conditioned capsules which will each hold 8 people. It will run daily from 10 am until 10 pm, and at night will be lit up with 2 million LED lights. Each ride will last about 15-20 minutes, and will cost about R70/person. There will also be various deals for families or for taking a private capsule. It will be operated for 6 month. The entrance is opposite the Caltex Garage at the entrance to the V&A Waterfront.

UPDATE: The wheel is open now. Click here for some pics! (07 June 2010)

The video: The video was made using the stop-motion technique. i.e. Take a photo, and move something slightly, then take another photo, and move it again... and so on. It ended on 700 photos, but a few are repeated in the video for effect.The song: The song is called Vuli Ndlela (translates to Open the gates), and was released by Brenda Fassie in 1998 on the album Memeza. The language is Zulu.

20 April 2010

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." – Mark Twain

“One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.” – Henry Miller

"No matter where you go, there you are." - unknown

"The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page." – St. Augustine

"Like all great travelers, I have seen more than I remember, and remember more than I have seen." - Benjamin Disraeli

"The use of traveling is to regulate imagination by reality, and instead of thinking how things may be, to see them as they are." – Samuel Johnson

Cape Town to Pretoria by Luxury Rail (5 days) >>Countries Visited: South AfricaWhat's Included: 2 nights aboard the Rovo's rail, guided tour of City Center in Kimberely, Big Hole and Museum, Airport transfers, Meals as indicated.Accommodation: Superior hotels (2 nts) Rovo's Rail Pullman Suite (2 nts)Highlights: Cape Town, Kimberley, PretoriaDescription: Step back in time on this luxury rail journey from Cape Town to Pretoria on the Pride of Africa, Rovos Rail. Take the Old Karoo Pioneering route, passing through Matjiesfontein, Kimberly and Klersdorp, watching the ever changing scenery from the comfort of the train and stopping to take a few walking excursions along the way. Old fashioned rail cars, luxury dinning, quality service, what more could you ask for?
Day 1 Cape Town [Cape Town daytours >>]
Day 2 Embark on The Old Karoo Pioneering Trail
Day 3 Kimberley
Day 4 Pretoria
Day 5 Depart Pretoria

Pretoria to Victoria Falls by Luxury Rail (5 days) >>Countries Visited: South Africa, ZimbabweWhat's Included: 2 nights aboard the Rovo's rail, Magaliesberg Range, Airport transfer, Meals as indicated.Accommodation: Superior hotels (2 nts) Rovo's Rail Pullman Suite (2 nts)Highlights: Pretoria, Victoria Falls Zimbabwe.Description: Travel from Pretoria to Victoria Falls in style onboard the luxurious Rovos Rail train - the Pride of Africa. Spend 2 nights in a train suite, enjoying the pleasures and pampering of quality service and fine dinning. Sit back and watch the changing scenery of South Africa and Zimbabwe. Recapture the romance and atmosphere of a bygone era, when privileged travellers experienced the magic and mystery of Africa in a relaxed and elegant fashion.
Day 1 Pretoria [Pretoria daytours >>]
Day 2 Embark on the Sojourn by Luxury Train
Day 3 Sojourn by Luxury train
Day 4 Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe
Day 5 Victoria Falls

19 April 2010

Now in its 4th year Bush Fire is Swaziland's major annual music festival. The event is organised by local entertainment giants House on Fire and supported by the cream of Swaziland's corporate community.

This 3-day event starting on the 28 May 2010 in Swaziland's Malkerns Valley (House on Fire) will span three stages and provide three full days of various entertainment options. There will be live music, DJ's, poetry, dance, theatre, interactive workshops, film, a global food fair, a Fair Trade Market and fun for all ages.
Tickets are limited to 4000 per day - pre-booking is essential.

A song by Capetonian band Freshlygound and Columbian singer Shakira was chosen by FIFA as the official 2010 FIFA World Cup anthem. The song "Time for Africa" is expected to be released across the world next week and will be available for download beginning 26 April 2010. The video for "Time for Africa" will be available in standard definition as well as in 3D. According to several news reports the artists will perform the song at the World Cup 2010 kick-off concert in Soweto on 10 June 2010, and at the tournament's opening ceremony on June 11 2010 and right before the 11 July 2010 final.

Close to the opening of the new King Shaka International Airport (KSIA) on Saturday 1st May 2010 Airports Company South Africa (ACSA) has been fielding many questions from the public, as well as the travel industry.

To answer all the questions Airports Company South Africa (ACSA) has put together a document(pdf) with information about the move from Durban International Airport to King Shaka International Airport before the new airport’s opening on 01 May 2010.

16 April 2010

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The BBC just published a brand new podcast about Zimbabwe as part of their BBC Documentaries series Assignment named "Zimbabwe's New Farmers".

BBC Documentaries - AssignmentZimbabwe's new Farmers >>Duration: 25minIt's now 10 years since Zimbabwe's president Robert Mugabe initiated a land reform programme which saw the forced transfer of white commercial farms into black ownership. Since then the country has been through a period of political turmoil and sharp economic decline. For Assignment, Dan Isaacs travels through Zimbabwe to see what price people have paid for reform and to meet the new owners of the land.

15 April 2010

Hostelworld is currently releasing a series of podcasts about South Africa. The latest one is about Plettenberg Bay - At Monkeyland and Birds of Eden, a popular holiday town on South Africa's Garden Route. In the podcast, Hostelworld.com’s Rebecca Keenan speaks with Lara Mostert, Marketing Manager for Birds of Eden and Monkeyland. Listen to find out about the noisy monkey and colourful birds you’ll see here, where these animals have come from and much more.

I just came across the following six videos while browsing on youtube. I don't know if the videos are actually made by the Apartheid Museum, but they are defo gonna make people want to visit the museum.

14 April 2010

Sense of Africa, a tour company based in Windhoek, recently started operating daily open-top double-decker bus tours of Namibia's capital. The tour (duration 2.5hrs) is starting at 0930 and 1430 from the Windhoek Craft Market and is covering the city’s most important landmarks, stopping at a large traditional market in the township of Katutura where guests can disembark the bus. Continuing through the Industrial area with its highlights, the tour returns to the craft market in the city centre via the striking colonial buildings dating back to the era of the German Schutztruppe. Please visit the website of Sense of Africa for more info and booking options.

13 April 2010

If there is a book from and about Namibia everyone travelling through the country should read, it is "The Sheltering Desert" by Henno Martin. It is definitely one of the books that I always name when getting asked about my favourite books of all time.

Threatened with the internment for the duration of World War II, two young German geologist, Henno Martin and Herman Korn, sought refuge in the Namib Desert and lived a Robinson Crusoe existence for two and a half years. How they mastered their situation, what they did, thought and observed are the subject of The Sheltering Desert. In it lies the vastness of the landscape, the clear skies, nature's silence in the joy or suffering of her creatures, and the stillness in which the reader, too, may take refuge from the wrongs of civilisation.The Sheltering Desert is also know by it's German title "Wenn es Krieg gibt, gehen wir in die Wüste".

12 April 2010

According to the South African newspaper Daily Dispatch (East London) almost 119,000 World Cup tickets were purchased by Americans, followed by fans from Britain (67,654), Germany (32,269), Australia (29,657) and Canada (16,001), though the Canadian team did not qualify for the tournament. 925,000 of the 2.2 million tickets sold were bought by South African residents.

09 April 2010

The fifth and final ticket sales phase of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa will start on Thursday, 15 April 2010. A total of 500,000 tickets for 63 matches (including all Host Cities and all knock-out matches except the final) will be made available. About 2.2 Million tickets have been sold so far; 240,000 tickets (85% of which went to South African residents) were sold in the fourth sales phase, which ended on the 07 April 2010.
You can get tickets through 5 different sales channels:

11 ticketing centres across the nine host cities. The centres are open seven days a week from 09:00am until 18:00 local time;

Approx. 600 FNB branches in South Africa, open five days a week from 09:00am on 15 April 2010; the process is new: you can order tickets, make payment and get ticket confirmation immediately; the actual tickets need to be collected at the FIFA ticketing centres or Shoprite/Checkers sales points;

The official tournament website www.FIFA.com, starting from 18.00 on 15 April 2010;

The call centre hotline (tel. (within South Africa): 083 123 2010; tel. (international): 0041445832010), starting from 18:00 on 15 April 2010 and open seven days a week from 08:00am until 22:00;

18 Shoprite/Checkers sales points, starting from 09:00am on 19 April 2010 and open seven days a week.

"My name is Zukisa. My friends call me 'The Wall' – nothing can pass me, even Ronaldo" ... a team of young footballers who call themselves the A-Stars feature in a commercial filmed by Justin Bonello of BBC TV programme "Cooked" in aid of the Dreamfields Project, which uses football for community development in South Africa.

According to Bonello, he was driving back to Cape Town after filming in Somerset West one afternoon last year when something he saw provided a moment of inspiration.
"There were these impromptu soccer matches taking place on the side of the N2," Bonello writes on the Dreamfields Project blog. "I started thinking: 'Would I want my son to play soccer here?' And the answer was no.
"We then started looking for a charity we could partner with."
Bonello got in touch with Dreamfields, shared his vision for a short film – and the crew from Cooked in Africa Films was soon headed for Nyanga township where, under the direction of Corne van Rooyen, they began filming the A-Stars boys.
The result was stunning – and the judges of the M-Net Vuka! Awards agreed. The Vuka! Awards were set up to encourage film companies and ad agencies to make TV commercials for causes close to their hearts. The Dreamfields commercial made it through to the finals of the 2009 competition.
"We decided to put together a positive story with real kids," says Bonello. "We produced it in six hours, with no budget, and made the finals with some of the big boys. Brilliant!"
The Dreamfields Project, brainchild of journalist John Perlman, is using the excitement generated by the 2010 Fifa World Cup to bring soccer fields and equipment – as well as business skills and new social partnerships – to disadvantaged communities across South Africa.
The project, which has already attracted some heavyweight corporate backing, raises money to upgrade existing sports facilities in townships and rural areas, and to build new fields in at least 32 regional soccer centres by the end of 2010.
The organisation also supplies communities with "Dream Bags", each containing 11 footballs and 15 full sets of kit, and works with the government and other organisations to bring coaching and sports management skills programmes to communities. [src.: SAinfo reporter - www.southafrica.info]

The recently found "Sediba Fossils", which were discovered at the site of the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site and dated to over two million years old, will be on display at the Maropeng Visitor’s Centrefrom 9 April till 18 April 2010. The fossils are on display in the Iziko South African Museum in Cape Town since 21 April 2010.

Maropeng is situated in the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site and means “returning to the place of origin” in Setswana, the main indigenous language in this area of South Africa.

Method:
Cut the meat in bite-sized pieces. Chop the onion finely. Add the onion, oil, cinnamon and ginger to the meat and mix it. Leave it for 2 hours in cool place.
Roast the meat gently and pour the water and the red wine over it. Add the plums, the honey and the lemon slices and let it cook for 90 minutes.
Mix the starch under the sauce and let it reduce till the sauce is viscid.
Serve with potatoes.

Hostelworld.com is currently releasing a series of podcasts about South Africa. The latest one is about Jeffrey's Bay - A surfer's paradise. The coastal town of JBay, situated about an one hour drive from Port Elizabeth on the famous Garden Route, is one of the top surf spots in South Africa and therefore Hostelworld.com's Rebecca Keenan speaks with Andy Thuysman, Chairperson of the Local Boardriders Surf Club in Jeffrey's Bay. Listen to find out more about top surf spots like Supertubes, attractions like the Surf Museum and about the numerous surf shops found in town.

07 April 2010

Mundulea Nature Reserve is situated just 2hrs south of the Namutoni Gate of Etosha National Park, in the Otavi Mountains. It is set in 120 kms² of prime, unspoilt bushveld, in the Karstveldt region, south-east of the town of Otavi. This beautiful landscape has rugged hills, steep gorges and a vast network of caves and underground lakes.

Kate & Bruno Nebe established the reserve in 2001 after purchasing the former farmland in the Otavi Mountains. After dismantling the existing boundaries and erecting secure game fencing around the perimeter, they began to add to the existing wildlife numbers with a carefully chosen variety of indigenous species. The aim has been to establish a reserve rich in Namibia's native flora and fauna, a place as close to its natural heritage as possible, where visitors can experience a true step back into the lush wilderness of this region.
The base camp consists of 4 permanently errected tents set amongst mature trees and a central boma area. From here you set out on foot to explore this rich and unique biosphere. The walking and hiking trails are carefully chosen to suit to the interests and abilities of the guests. Trails range from gentle ambles through sloping savannah, to rocky mountain climbs and descents into canyons and gorges.
There are many antelope species already flourishing but giraffe and springbok - once plentiful in this area - are having to be gradually reintroduced. The reserve's most recent arrivals were the endangered black faced impala and a small group of tsessebe. Often-seen predators include leopard, cheetah, hyena, honey badgers, jackal, serval and lynx. Aardvark, aardwolf, bat-eared foxes, meerkats and pangolin are also sometimes spotted.

4 day Mundulea hiking trail [more info & online booking >>]Duration: 4 day(s)Departure time: As this is a private tour, there is no specified time but generally your guide meets you at the Mundulea main farm house after lunch and then you are transferred to the camp where you'll be accommodated for the next 3 nights.Pickup info: Although transfers can be arranged from Swakopmund or Windhoek, most guests book this as part of a self-drive trip and so drive directly to Mundulea.The itinerary is tailor-made for each group depending on interests, fitness levels etc. However, all exporation is on foot. For the more adventurous, there are numerous caving systems that can be investigated.

GAP Adventures' voluntour adventures have been designed to give back to the communities and regions they visit. The tours offer travellers the chance to complement their dream adventures with volunteer opportunities. During the month of April 2010 GAP Adventures is celebrating "Earth Month" and is therefore giving a 10% discount on all their voluntour adventures around the world.

06 April 2010

Due to the continuous heavy rainfall in both the highveld and the lowveld regions, some low-level bridges and crossings in the southern part of the Kruger National Park are currently under deep waters making it impossable to use.

Entrance gates:

Crocodile Bridge Entrance Gate will remain closed until further notice.